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I can't do it except randomly, so take this with a grain of salt...but audioRob also has a tutorial as well. When I have been able to do it, I was just rythmically doing the same inputs that he desribes until it sort of clicked. My son learned the trick this way.

I have been trying a different approach as well. Essentially, I do diagonal back-to-back half axels. It is not the trick, but it has helped me to get used to the kite moving in that way.

Flail your arms wildly in imitation of what you've seen people do on videos or in person. Eventually it will happen, and then at some point it will happen again, and you'll begin to "feel" the trick and get a sense of doing it under full control.

Honestly, I've seen people try to learn it methodically, and I've seen people learn it using the "flail" method, and I'm convinced the latter is as successful, maybe more so.

Eventually it can become a very nuanced trick, but at first it's going to be "flail" no matter how you learn it.

Only thing I'd add to what's been written is to learn where the nose should be positioned at each of the 4 inputs. I had to do that to really groove the trick. I learned this trick methodically and I'm convinced that's why it took me so long to learn.

Only thing I'd add to what's been written is to learn where the nose should be positioned at each of the 4 inputs. I had to do that to really groove the trick. I learned this trick methodically and I'm convinced that's why it took me so long to learn.

The comete is a strange one IMO. It has the "continuous motion" aspect of something like a backspin or lazy, but the odd positions the kite flows through makes it very hard at first to correlate inputs with specific kite positions. Add to that the fact that the kite is constantly trying to defy you by getting ahead of or behind what you're asking for, and the constant adjustment in input timing needed, and it becomes a hard trick to learn by a "Step 1, Step 2, Step 3" method...

I don't profess to be able to teach you this by typing better than anyone here.

First off, I would mention that this is easier to learn in stiffer winds.

But, in short, you are doing half axels in rapid succession...but they are always initiated with the same wing...and they are each cut short BEFORE the nose goes completely away. Like the half axel, you need to give opposite wing slack as you pull the leading wing (first input), but instead you rapidly take back the slack (2nd input), which cuts the half axel flare short...repeat as often as you can, or until you hit the ground. Of course, every other half axel goes to an 'almost lazy', not a flare...which makes every other position slightly different in feel.

The nose pattern (on the clock) should be 10, 4, 10, 4 (or 2, 8, 2, 8 ). The master's comete is really a three pointed star, but that's for when you are REALLY good at the basic version. I can't help you reach this higher level...and some kites can't either I think.

Certainly I agree that flailing about is also a good way to start, because as you can see from Audio Rob's video (where is that guy, anyway??)...you don't need to look at the kite once you get it.

ONE GOOD PIECE OF ADVICE: Learn both directions at once. Don't work only on one rotational direction. You can easily get trapped, making the comete cascade harder to learn (welcome to my world).

obi

Logged

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." L daVinci

Anyone got a link to that Debray video of his hand movements? Seeing this helps becuase RonG is correct. Flailing works, but flailing to the right rhythm is even better.

Obi - "ONE GOOD PIECE OF ADVICE: Learn both directions at once. Don't work only on one rotational direction. You can easily get trapped, making the comete cascade harder to learn (welcome to my world). "

Absolutely damned right. I'm trapped because of this. It might take you twice as long to learn, but worth it IMO.

I personally still think that the Comete is the weirdest and hardest trick to master, simply because the timing is so strict and rhythmic; it's not a fixed simple sequence like most other tricks, it's a thing you have to train your mind to do.

It took me four months to learn this trick on a Gemini (not the easiest kite to Comete), but that was 4 months of intensive flying so keep it up and don't give in. It really is a bastard to get down!

The whole Comete left/right thing fascinates me because it really illustrates left brain/right brain stuff. Like the way I can only 540 on the left!

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